Australia’s continued run of economic prosperity, witnessed by historically high employment levels, low interest rates and rising wages and personal wealth, has allowed Australians to luxuriate on issues in a manner not enjoyed by previous generations.
Many will want to argue the forthcoming federal election will be fought on the battle ground of climate change, David Hicks and the War on Terror. However, over coming months the crucial issue to crystallise in voters minds will be whether there is a significant risk in trusting a Rudd Labor Government with Australia’s future economic prosperity.
It is true that for many voters addressing the challenges of climate change, questioning Australia’s role in the Iraq war and seeking a belated justice for David Hicks have dominated attitudes to the Howard Government over recent months.
But it is not accurate to expect these issues to be sufficient motivation for electors to put at risk 11 years of economic prosperity – an economic prosperity enjoyed not by a few, but by many.
This month Australians will benefit from a fifth consecutive year of Howard Government initiated tax cuts. In the latest round of tax cuts (from 1 July 2007), Australians earning a wage between $30,000 and $40,000 will receive a tax cut of $1,100 per year; Australians earning the average wage of $46,239 will receive a cut of $850 per year; and taxpayers will not move on to the 30 per cent rate until their income exceeds $30,000 – an increase of $5,000.
As a direct result of the Howard Government more than 80 per cent of taxpayers will continue to pay a tax rate of 30 per cent or less!
A Rudd Labor Government will put at risk these and other economic benefits by giving a special place to an unrepresentative union movement in managing the economy.
At a time when only one in five Australian employees are members of unions and private sector union membership has fallen to 15%, former union members comprise 55% of the parliamentary members of the Federal Labor Party and 75% of the delegates at the 2007 Federal Labor National Conference were former or current union members, Labor parliamentarians or staffers!
Labor’s record of economic mismanagement should not be forgotten – it left $96 million in Government debt (and voted against all major measures to pay it off), it allowed real wages to fall, interest rates have risen to above 10 per cent every time Labor has been elected to Government during the last 30 years, and Labor still has not released its tax policy.
Kevin Rudd and the unions want Australians to gamble their prosperity on a vote for Labor.
At the risk of offending the ‘chattering classes’, the economy and guaranteeing Australia’s future prosperity coupled with the special privileges Labor will give the union movement are the only issues that will be front and centre to voters when they go to vote later this year.
